Good times? This past Saturday, a pitbull won the 2025 World Dog Surfing Championships, because… why not? The dogs look like they’re having fun, though. 🌊

In This Open Letter

SA has so many people living under the bread line – little did this startup know an employee-assistance scheme could create a lekker e-commerce opportunity too…

Grocery bills are bleeding household budgets across SA, with over half their paycheques gone before the first meal is even cooked in low-income families. 

Even households earning R10k–R35k pm spend between 25% and 29% of their income on food as the cost of the total household food basket jumped nearly 60% from R3’413.14 in 2020 to R5’442.72 in 2025.

Even the humble Braaibroodjie isn't immune to price increases, with its cost continuing to outpace both inflation and food inflation.

At this rate, staying fed becomes all-consuming. Transport, utilities, rent, everything else is getting squeezed. 

The Opportunity

Employers know this all too well: For essential-service roles in retail, logistics and factories, food is the cost many workers simply can’t avoid. Simple perks like discounted groceries or payroll-supported access can be make-or-break tools for retention.

The local startup is halving grocery basket costs

Pantryclub is an online FMCG sales platform that 1) lets companies supply their own products to employees at a better rate (as an employee perk or to improve the lives of their employees), paid via payroll and card, and delivered nationally from their warehouses in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town within 24–48 hours. And, 2) scaling those various stores to offer cross-sales between different suppliers.

It all started with them helping Tiger Brands pioneer a direct-to-employee (D2E) model in mid-2022, where the company provided some of their products as discounted groceries to staff. It worked so well, they built a fully in‑house tech stack to onboard the likes of PepsiCo and other big brands, setting up their very own whitelabeled employee stores to offer as an employee benefit.

But then they saw a new gap…

The employee stores side grew so big, Pantryclub now had a streamlined logistics and distribution system, inspiring them to roll out a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model, GroceryClub, complete with its own highly attractive rewards program. And, over time, as more partners came onboard, they’ve expanded to everything from nappies and other home essentials, veg, beverages and even meat.

Now supporting over 70k active users, they’ve done over 250k orders and maintain an average delivery SLA of less than 48 hours from their three major distribution centres. Not bad.

We caught up with Michael Griffin & Gavin Rhodes-Harrison, Pantryclub’s Co-Founders, and for them, it’s not just about cheaper food. It’s about closing the gap between who can afford groceries and who can’t, to help more SA families unlock a better life. And you know we’re watching that space.

Want to unlock AI automation for your small business? On Wednesday (6 Aug) at 11:00, our own Renier Kriel and Lula’s head of engineering, John Dalton, dive into a power-packed webinar on how local SMEs use AI to save time and scale. Get real tools, avoid common pitfalls and see how others have done it. Register here for free.

Got a killer blog post, deck or guide? Turn it into a full video course in minutes with Learnify. Just drop a URL, PDF or doc and it autogenerates a structured course — complete with chapters, quizzes and video lessons. No editing, no slides — just instant course content you can share or sell. Try it here.

The key to GTM that gets real traction? Ex-Twitter and Google PM Shreyas Doshi says most startup teams mistake marketing for what it really is: changing minds. In this video, he breaks down 3 high-impact shifts that separate failed GTMs from successful ones — including why “we’re better” never works, and what to say instead. If you’re building anything at all, watch this.

What if you approached building your personal finances the same way you build your business?

In working with many founders, we know that entrepreneurs already have the skills and mindset to be successful in their personal finances.

They understand that business success doesn’t happen by accident, it’s an intentional, strategic process… something that’s similar to building success in your personal finances:

✅ A good plan with clear, specific goals and milestones (for example putting down a deposit for a house in 3 years, or being financially free by 55)

✅ Consistent tracking and progress checks

✅ Informed, efficient decision-making

✅ Effective delegating

But how do you give your personal finances a chance when your business is taking over your time and focus?

Introducing Doshguide. A flat-fee financial advisor.

If you’re a founder, this is your personal finance superpower.

Book a call with Doshguide today and see how we can empower you to take control of your personal finances.

📲 Realtime Payment Magic. Local payments processing platform Ozow just unveiled PayShap Request, a real-time payment feature for merchants that allows customers to make instant payments using just their mobile number. Whoa.

🚗 Keep it in the Fam. Bolt has launched Family Profiles, allowing one person to manage up to nine users' rides on a single account. The feature offers real-time tracking and spending limits, while still letting users hail their own trips. Good to see more safety features getting built in.

🚀 SocioBot. Character.AI rolls out a social feed, letting users share and create AI-generated videos and chat with them. Too far yet?

💰Stock Up With Luno. You can now get in on 44 tokenised US stocks and ETFs via Luno using your hard-earned SA rondts. Buy and sell stocks from Apple, Google, etc, for as little as R20.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you real-time AI insights and decision automation from Sidekicklab, zero-monthly-fee bank accounts and business loans in 4 minutes from Lula, plus loads more vital startup tools & services.

Yesterday, we told you how Kastelo’s building mobile data that never expires and converts to cash, asking about the most broken part of SA data today. And most frown at “night time” deals…

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 📉 Bundles that expire before you can finish them (41%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🌙 “Night Time” deals no one asked for (or are awake to even use) (46%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤷 Confusing usage, like what does 1GB actually get you? (3%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📩 Forced SMS add-ons and bundle bloat (8%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🕵️ No way to track or manage usage in real time (2%)

Your 2 cents…

Bout time we got someone to sort it out, hey, Samantha. 😭

He he, ja Ludwig, the telcos tend to be all-round offenders. 📸

Shame E Smith, ja no it’s time we get providers who’ll actually appreciate our business. 💪

On 4 August 2007, the Delta II rocket was used to send the Phoenix spacecraft on its 295-day journey to become the first craft to land on the Martian polar surface on 25 May 2008. It was summer, and it had only a short window before winter, which it used to deliver the first official proof that there was, in fact, water ice on Mars.

Phoenix also gave us insights into Mars’ past climate: Soil samples showed that Mars was much warmer and wetter long in the past, and Phoenix itself observed snow falling from Martian clouds. This renewed interest in Mars (hey Elon?) like few things before.

But 5 months later, the Martian winter rolled in and Phoenix went into hibernation. Earth lost contact with it on 2 November 2008 and finally gave up trying to reach the sleeping little craft in 2010.

Cue the emotional Wall-E music…

🛠 Tool to Try: Lovable too pricey? Ideavo lets you vibe code full-stack apps with unlimited credits for just R600.

🤔 That’s Interesting: Nike once ran an ad of a Kenyan tribesman trying their shoes, claiming he said “Just Do It” in his native language — but it actually translated to “I don’t want these. Give me bigger shoes.”

🔥 Next Level: Behold, Happy Gilmore fans, the beauty that is frisbee golf.

🍔 Hack: Trying to drink fewer soft drinks? Keep them warm. You’ll be less tempted and drink more water without even noticing.

🌐 Wow Site: Rerunify redesigns your room in the style of your favourite retro TV show — from Friends to The Simpsons.

We are always keen to get reader feedback to help make The Open Letter the most useful of its kind for you. So please select